**The following words are written by a guest author- not my own. I'm honored to use my platform as a place for other women and men to share their stories of what freedom means and why they're participating in Dressember. The following is a personal, authentic account.

When I first heard about Dressember from my daughter, I didn’t get it. Wearing a dress to call attention to human trafficking? I dismissed it for a couple reasons. First, I’m a guy and I don’t wear dresses, second, what good would it do anyway?

Then my wife got on board. She told me why she was doing it, and so I asked her how I could participate. At the very least, I wanted to support my daughter; I am also horrified that human trafficking is causing modern-day slavery to increase to epidemic proportions. The Super Bowl is basically a human trafficking event in the United States. Pornography is making slaves not only out of the men and women who provide the “entertainment,” but also of the men (mostly, but women use it as well) who are enslaved—addicted to it.

The first day I put on the tie (it may be Dressember, but guys wear ties 😎) I thought, “Man! This is like having a noose around my neck!” And it hit me. How many people in our world—trafficked people, traffickers, sex slaves, child soldiers, etc—live their whole lives with figurative nooses around their necks: emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical nooses that bind them to their sin and the sins of others: unable to can’t take them off, at least on their own.

As a follower of Jesus I believe that these words from Isaiah quoted by Jesus apply to all who would call him Lord:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

- Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV

Words by Stephen, Pullman, WA

Our calling is not just to believe that these words are true and wait around for Jesus to do something, but to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves and to do what Jesus has done for us.